House Panel Rejects String of Democratic Bids to Alter $900 Billion Defense Bill

The House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday voted down a series of Democratic-led amendments as it advanced the fiscal-2026 National Defense Authorization Act, underscoring Republican control of the panel’s $900-billion Pentagon blueprint. The highest-profile proposal, offered by Rep. Pat Ryan, would have frozen three-quarters of the Office of the Secretary of Defense budget until Secretary Pete Hegseth reviewed classified-information safeguards in the wake of the so-called “Signalgate” controversy. It failed 26–31, with only one Democrat—Don Davis—voting against his party. Members also rejected 27–30 an amendment by Rep. Sara Jacobs that would have required each geographic combatant command to establish a human-rights office, and, by the same margin, a measure from Rep. Joe Courtney aimed at blocking funds to convert a foreign-made aircraft into a new Air Force One for former President Donald Trump. On strategic forces, the committee voted 15–42 against Rep. John Garamendi’s bid to halt spending on the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile and 27–30 against Rep. Gil Cisneros’s effort to strip money for a nuclear sea-launched cruise missile. A further amendment from Rep. Seth Moulton, which sought to bar funding for space-based missile interceptors under the Golden Dome program pending a comprehensive cost analysis, was defeated 23–34. A bipartisan amendment from Moulton and Republican Don Bacon that would have condemned unauthorized leaks of sensitive information narrowly failed 28–29, after attracting only one GOP defection. Markup of the broader defense policy bill continues, with a full committee vote expected later this week.